When I order a cup of coffee, it usually comes with a lid. They don’t ask if your order is “for here or to go”. They simply slap on the plastic lid. When I get to my table, I pop the lid off to let the coffee cool down while I eat. This is pretty much my routine and quite frankly, I never thought much about it…

… until earlier this year when it struck me that the lid serves absolutely no purpose except to cover the cup for my walk from the counter to the table. After I pop it off, it sits there, brand new, and does nothing until I’m done and then it gets dumped in the trash with the paper cup and everything else. Which begs the question: why do I even need a plastic lid in the first place?

So now I tell them: No lid, please.

Aah, that’s better!

Granted it’s just one little lid but it’s going straight into that ocean of plastic waste that’s polluting our environment and making our climate go crazy. Which, in the long run, is going to affect every single one of us and generations to come. So if I don’t need the lid, I’m going to tell them no, or pop it off right there and give it back. Simple!

Those stifling heatwaves, devastating storms, prolonged droughts and massive floods that’s going on all over the place sound really scary. And while some folks think it all “just happened to be worse this year”, in reality, it’s no coincidence.

The planet is getting way hotter than ever; the winds, rains and storms are getting much fiercer and the destruction and loss of life and limb is becoming impossible to ignore. And it’s all because our climate is changing. In a really bad way! So that means we really have to get off our butts and start doing something.

So when I was ordering a hamburger (for somebody, not for me) and saw this sign at McD’s recently, it made me smile (the sign, not the hamburger lol). Single-use straws are as harmful as single-use plastic bags although as far as I’m concerned, no plastic bag is ever single use. I recycle them by using them to line my trash bin.

Those of us who’ve switched to recyclable bags for our groceries/shopping and our own containers for food takeout, and who’re saying no to straws, lids, etc should pat ourselves on the back. Not that we’re heroes or anything but at the rate climate change is happening, we really need to get off our butts and do something. Well, we got to start somewhere and every little bit helps. So join in and do your bit. Our planet (and future generations) will thank you. Cheers.